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Court Structure

Some of the nation's top legal scholars discuss the U.S. Supreme Court's 2016–2017 term and analyze the decisions that are most likely to affect the work of federal judges. Among the decisions discussed will be those involving the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments as well as criminal law and procedure, patent law, and the federal courts.

A report to the Cost-Containment Subcommittee of the Court Administration and Case Management Committee on six districts with a currently consolidated district court and bankruptcy court clerk's office and three districts that at one time consolidated their district court and bankruptcy court clerks' offices but subsequently deconsolidated the offices. Based on surveys and interviews, the report presents profiles of each study district and identifies factors common to districts in which consolidation was, and was not, sustained.

This booklet explains the provisions of the 1789 Judiciary Act and the compromises it embodies, reviews the evolution of the federal judicial system during the nineteenth century, and analyzes the conditions and debates that led to the passage of the Evarts Act in 1891, which established the three-tiered system that characterizes federal court structure today, and briefly reviews 20th century developments that help account for today's federal judicial system. It also includes twelve maps that illustrate the growth and evolution of the districts and circuits from 1789 to the present.

Under the current bankruptcy appellate system, appeals from dispositive orders of bankruptcy judges are taken to the district court or to the bankruptcy appellate panel, if one has been established and the district has chosen to participate, with further appeal as of right to the court of appeals.

Under the current bankruptcy appellate system, appeals from dispositive orders of bankruptcy judges are taken to the district court or to the bankruptcy appellate panel, if one has been established and the district has chosen to participate, with further appeal as of right to the court of appeals.

The authors explain the provisions of the 1789 Judiciary Act and the compromises it embodies, review the evolution of the federal judicial system during the nineteenth century, and analyze the conditions and debates that led to the passage of the Evarts Act in 1891, which established the three-tiered system that characterizes federal court structure today. The publication includes twelve maps that illustrate the growth and evolution of the districts and circuits from 1789 to the present.

A historical survey published in connection with the bicentennial year of the First Judiciary Act, signed September 24, 1789. The text explains the provisions of the 1789 statute, the compromises it embodies, and the conditions and debates that led to the passage of the Evarts Act in 1891, which established the three-tiered system that characterizes federal court structure today. The publication is illustrated by 12 maps that describe the growth and evolution of the districts and circuits.

In 1975, the Commission on Revision of the Federal Court Appellate System, chaired by Senator Roman L. Hruska, recommended to the Congress, the President and Chief Justice of the United States that the geographical boundaries of the Fifth and Ninth Circuits be altered to create four circuits. This would be only the second time that the geographical boundaries would be altered since the creation of the then-existing federal circuit court system in 1891. The previous alteration was in 1929 when the Tenth Circuit was created from the then-U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

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